Abigail This is too much. This is too much information. Too much. Too much. No, no, no. I felt myself shutting down again after what the Duke said. King Hayden had always been afraid Grayson would be more powerful than him. He thought he could control Grayson. Grayson was meant to destroy him. Or join him. No. No. He is not a prophetic hero. He is my husband, my best friend. He is MY hero. I won’t share him with the world. We are going to settle down at my estate and have a boatload of children and be happy. Simple, lovely lives – just like we planned. My beautiful, kind, loving, brilliant husband would come back to me, and everything would go back to normal.Oh gods, someone help me.“Abby!” Rose cried out, catching me before I hit the ground. “Too much!” I cried, burying my face in my hands. “We really need to stop overloading this child with information,” Thomas said dryly. Rose shot him a dirty look. He shrugged. “Abigail? Sweetheart, are you okay?” King Marcus asked, kneel
Catherine That afternoon had truly been a wealth of information – I could see why Abby got overwhelmed. It was good to see Rose and Abby laugh again, though. These babies will be a blessing – they’re already healing their family.A few evenings later, Rose and I took a walk down to the riverbank. I held her hand as we walked, our fingers laced together. She kissed me when we got to the water’s edge, and I responded by sliding my hand up her shirt. She let out a small moan and deepened the kiss.“Should we get a bath?” I whispered. “Yes,” she responded breathlessly. I openly admired her as she got undressed. She saw me watching her and blushed. “Don’t be shy,” I said, reaching my hand out to take hers. “You’re beautiful.”She managed to get even redder and looked away before responding, “So are you.”I picked her up and carried her into the water as she squealed at how cold it was. She clung to me to stay warm, and I was in no hurry to let her go. I ran my hands over her bare skin
Rose “Run!” Thomas shouted. None of us hesitated. I grabbed Cat’s hand after I saw Thomas had my sister’s. The sun had been setting when we spotted the tower, and it was even darker in the trees. We were able to spread out a bit and use the darkness to our advantage. Still, the shouting and hoof beats grew louder.“Seriously?!” Cat yelled as the sky opened above us, and it started to rain. A clap of thunder made me jump, and we all quickened our pace. Thomas must not have been happy with Abby’s speed because he had picked her up and was running with her in his arms.“In here!” Aryk called, ushering us into a cave. We ran into the cave until we rounded a corner, then we all hunkered down, weapons drawn. Abby had her bow out and loaded and was peeking around the corner. The storm outside was getting worse. Thanks to the lightning, we saw the trolls run right by the cave, not slowing down at all. The horse and its dark rider weren’t so easily fooled. It stopped outside the cave, and
Grayson “Who is Kasdeyah?” I asked, afraid of the answer. “Well, not to be obvious, but she is the Queen of Hell,” Duey replied. “She’s also the source of all Darkness and Dark magic. And our father has bound himself to her, in hopes of becoming her king.”“What the hell?!” I shouted at the end of my rope. Was there an end to the terrible things I was learning about my father? “What is he thinking?”“Power, Gray,” my brother answered. “It’s all he’s ever wanted. He planned on killing everyone and taking Alderei after your wedding to Catherine.”I put my head in my hands. “No,” I whispered. “I’m sorry, Gray,” Duey put a hand on my shoulder. “Our father is not a good man.”We walked for a long time together, just talking. I told him about losing Abby after his death and then finding her again, almost being forced to marry Catherine, and how our father had been treating our mother and myself. “He’s moved on to beating mother now and not just berating her?” he spat. “Grayson, I hope y
Catherine The midwife came to see Abby first thing in the morning. Abby had asked Rose and I to stay with her in case something happened or there was bad news. “All seems well, Princess,” the older woman declared after a thorough examination. “The babes are active, and their hearts sound strong. You’ve done amazingly well for traveling throughout your entire pregnancy.” Abby smiled, just barely. She still looked so tired.“Anyway, I have no worries for either you or the little ones,” the midwife, whose name was Anna, continued. “If I had to venture a guess, based on what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen here, I’d say you have about two more weeks, since twins have a tendency to come early.”Abby put her head back against the wall. “Two more weeks?” She sighed in frustration. “The longer they bake, the better they are,” Anna said, smiling. “I am prescribing you rest until they come, however,” she went on. “You’ve done enough activity for one pregnancy, and I can tell it’s been caus
Rose Catherine ran to tell the others that we needed to leave – now. Abby was very sick, and we needed to find Grayson. While I waited for her to return, we heard a commotion outside and shouting from one of the guard towers.“Oh my gods, Rose,” Cat burst into the room. “Come with me!”I ran after her out of the building. We skidded to a stop as soon as we set foot on dirt. When I saw what the commotion was, I almost fainted. “Grayson?” It was Grayson, but he was a mess. His clothes were torn, and parts of them looked burnt. His hair was a mess and filthy, as was his face. “Rose?” He sounded terrible. “Yes?”“Help,” he said and immediately passed out, falling to the ground. “Grayson!” I yelled, running toward him. I knelt next to where he lay and started to shake him. “Grayson! Gray! Wake up!” I shook him harder. “Come on! You can’t do this! Wake up! Abby’s right inside!” I started crying. “You’re so close! Please wake up! Grayson, please!” I put my head down on his chest, sobbi
Grayson I stared into the eyes of my beautiful wife as we lay in bed the morning after my return. I was home. I reached out to stroke her hair, and she smiled sleepily. Her hand reached out and caressed my cheek.She winced and rubbed her belly. “Your children are very active today.”I kissed her forehead. “Our children,” I said happily. She closed her eyes. “When they misbehave, they’re your children,” she smirked. I let out a good laugh and pulled her close. I put my hand on her belly and could feel the babies moving about. They *were* very active today. “Little beans,” I said to her stomach. “Give your poor mama a break.” One of them kicked my hand as if in response. The midwife came in a few minutes later and bustled about with confidence before asking, “How is everyone doing today?”Abby sat up slowly, with my help. “Better,” she answered. “Still tired, the babies are still dancing around in there, but better.” She squeezed my hand. “Anna, have you met my husband Grayson?”Sh
Catherine Grayson was back, and Abby and the babies were healthy and beautiful. Any fear we had about losing any of them was gone. We all felt more relaxed than we had in a long time.Rose was in heaven, helping with the babies and making sure Abby was okay and healing. She loved snuggling with them both and could often be found doing just that. Abby called the twins her sunshine. Laurie said they were as sweet as honey.One afternoon, about two weeks after they were born, I found Rose holding Olivia while Abby slept. Grayson was holding Samuel, smiling brightly. He had been so wonderful since their birth, moving between the babies and Abby, making sure they all had everything they needed. He had jumped head first into being a father and seemed to be thriving, which didn’t surprise me at all.“How is the happy family?” I asked, kissing Rose.“Happy,” Rose responded. “Very happy,” Grayson said.I took Olivia from Rose and snuggled her, “Hi little bean.” Olivia regarded me seriously.
Six months later, they were married in a ceremony held on the lawn of her mother’s nursing home. Their mothers held hands and wept happy tears as Tony and Molly exchanged vows they had written themselves. Molly started. “Tony, you are one of the few people in this world who truly see me. You’ve always seen me as so much more than I thought I was. You’ve helped me realize my worth, and that I do have something to offer the world. Every day you make me feel like the most beautiful woman on the planet. You encourage me, you don’t just listen to me – you hear me. We have been through so much together, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t have gotten through half of it without you by my side.” She stopped to wipe away her tears, but Tony got to them first. She smiled at him. “You are better than any fairy tale or romantic hero. You have saved me in so many ways. I promise I will always be honest and upfront with you. I will always support you, and you will always be the best thing that’s ev
**Three weeks later**Molly called her mother on her way home from work, like she did every night. “Hi mom,” she said cautiously. “Hi baby girl, happy birthday!” her mom answered. It was another good day for Sarah.“You remembered!” Molly exclaimed.“I did,” she said. “There should be a package waiting for you at home, too. The nurses helped me.”“Thank you, mom,” Molly said with happy tears.“I just wanted to send my daughter something special,” Sarah said. “Not every day is your birthday.”“I still appreciate it,” Molly replied. “That’s because you’re a good girl,” Sarah said. “How’s Tony?” she asked, changing the subject. “He’s good,” she responded. “We’re both still doing therapy separately, as well as going together. It’s been really helpful. I’m going to call him later and he’s going to bring over dinner.”“That’s great, Molly.”“I know,” she replied. “I’d forgotten how much I missed just talking to him. It’s great to be able to talk to him again.”“I’m just hap
It was difficult, but they did the work. They went through therapy together and individually. Their couples’ therapist wanted them to just spend time together, not as couple or with anything sexual between them, so they could focus on building back their friendship and trust.The no sexual contact was difficult for both of them, but they stuck to what they dubbed the ‘muddy waters’ rule. They spent a lot of time together over the next three months, mostly talking, but also just sometimes sitting with each other. On Halloween, Tony brought over Horror House 3, which was the movie they saw on their first date. He also brought take out from the restaurant they had gone to that first night. Molly almost kissed him several times just because of how thoughtful it all was, but she stuck to the rule. She did allow herself to kiss his cheek, which caused him to smile and blush.They bent the rule a little when he put his arm around her and she snuggled up against him. They bent it even mor
He pulled back and looked at her. “When?” he asked, his voice cracking.She hung her head. “About two years ago. Right when we sold the house and put mom in the nursing home,” she said softly, angrily wiping away her tears. He held her hand, and listened. “I found out I was pregnant and I had been trying to tell you, but it was one thing after another,” she said waving her arm from one side to the other. “It was never a good time. The night I was finally going to tell you, I had cooked dinner and made it all nice and… you never came home. Not until it was very late, anyway, and you stank of alcohol. You said you’d been out with your coworkers celebrating a big deal.” Tony remembered that night. He had seen the set up when he came home, but had been too drunk to ask. When he’d woken up the next morning, it was gone and so was Molly. He had assumed she’d gone to work.“That morning, after I woke up I started bleeding,” she continued. “I tried to wake you but you were passed out, s
“I’m over here,” said a small voice filled with pain. It was coming from the floor on the other side of the bed.He rushed over and saw her holding her foot, her hands covered in blood. Without a word he grabbed a towel from the closet, wrapped it around her foot, picked her up, and carried her into the kitchen. He set her down on a chair before unwrapping the towel. Molly winced in pain.“What happened, Mols?” he asked gently, sitting on the floor in front of her.She sighed. “I think Orange knocked a picture frame off the dresser and it broke. I stepped on the glass.”He washed her foot off gently. “It doesn’t look that bad,” he said. “You won’t need stitches.”“Good,” she said. She was so tired. Tony could hear it in her voice. “That’s the last thing I need.”Tony cleaned her foot up and handed her a rag to wash the blood off her hands. He was quiet as he carefully bandaged her foot up. He kissed her leg and held her foot in his lap.“You broke the door,” Molly said, exhaust
“Molly?” he ventured.She was pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to hold up her towel and the journal with one hand. “Yes, Tony?”“What secret were you keeping?” he asked softly. He reached out and fixed her towel. If the towel slipped again, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Molly was gorgeous and he missed her so much. She wouldn’t look at him. “It doesn’t matter now,” she answered. “Please don’t jump off a bridge,” he said sadly. She still wouldn’t look at him. “I’m going to put on some clothes,” she said.Before he could stop himself, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I don’t mind you in just a towel,” he said softly into her ear.She looked at him, confused. “Muddy waters, Tony, remember?” she said. “It’s your rule, not mine. I didn’t know you were out here or I wouldn’t have come out in my towel.”“But…” he started. “Do you want to get back together?” she asked angrily. “I…” he hesitated.“Please leave, Tony,” Molly said with tears in her eyes
A few minutes after Molly got in the shower, there was a knock at her door.“Mols?” Tony called. “Hey Molly, come on – open up.” More knocking. “Please, Mols.”Maybe she’s in the shower, he thought. He pulled out the key that Molly insisted he keep after he moved out, in case of emergency. Molly didn’t have any other family outside of her mom, so Tony was still her emergency contact. While being ignored wasn’t an emergency, he didn’t like the thought of her sitting by herself being sad. He still loved her. He had been devastated when she agreed to the breakup and didn’t even try to fight for him. He went through with the breakup because he figured she didn’t love him anymore when she didn’t fight it. They hardly saw each other due to work, even though they had lived together. They had both changed and things were different between them, but he still loved her. He knew she thought of herself as a disappointment, but he never did. The last few years dealing with her mom’s rapidly
No one paid attention to Molly Monroe. She was average. She blended into the scenery, unremarkable with her shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses – she was every girl and no girl in particular. Only two people in this world had ever truly seen Molly Monroe – her mother and Tony.Tony Morales was her high school – and only – boyfriend. They had broken up about a year ago. The reasons were numerous. He traveled a lot for his job, her schedule was strange, and they never saw each other. The spark had disappeared. The break up had been ‘mutual’ in that he suggested breaking up and she knew she had nothing to offer him, so she let it happen. In high school, she had been the one ‘with so much potential.’ Now she was just a disappointment and going nowhere. She was sure that’s why Tony dumped her, though he was too kind to say it. At least they were still friends and he would take her calls. He didn’t just drop her after eight years of dating.God, she missed Tony. Almost a
From the diaries of Grayson of Eswen, Duke of Odel, and Lydisia. Before I write any more, I want to be clear with anyone who finds this journal: my wife is the most amazing, smart, wonderful, kind, loving, and talented person I know. I would literally not be alive today without her. I would have died in my father's attack on Alderei. I love my wife. I always have. What can you say about someone you've loved since you were five years old?My wife gave me the family I've always wanted. She birthed six beautiful children, and we lost one little soul. Little Sawyer will always be acknowledged as part of our family and will always be in our hearts. Samuel, Olivia, Theodore, Charlotte, Benjamin, and Calista. They are the six the Mother chose to stay in this world. They are our world. I will admit to be slightly more overprotective of Olivia than the others, but she was the one we almost lost to my father. My oldest girl, my baby, was almost a sacrifice. I try not to think about my fathe